Wave Connect has built its reputation around one specific thing: a free plan more generous than almost anyone else's, including analytics and contact export at no cost — features most competitors paywall behind an $8–10/month upgrade. It's a genuinely strong offer. Here's how it compares against Cardlyx point by point.
Pricing, side by side
Cardlyx's Professional tier undercuts Wave's Pro plan on price. Where the comparison gets more interesting is the free tier.
Free plan, honestly compared
Wave's free plan genuinely deserves its reputation — analytics and contact export at $0 is a real point of difference from platforms like HiHello, Popl, and Blinq, which paywall those features. But there's a structural gap worth naming clearly: what Wave's free plan doesn't emphasize is a lead capture gate built into the sharing flow — its free-tier strength is about tracking and exporting your own card's performance, not about capturing the recipient's contact info automatically when they view your card. Cardlyx's free plan is built the other way around — the lead capture mechanic is the core of the product from day one, not an upgrade path.
Lead capture and CRM
Both platforms sync captured leads to major CRMs (Wave to HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive; Cardlyx to those same three plus Zoho). The difference isn't the destination — it's the trigger. Wave's lead capture, where available, functions similarly to most competitors: a feature the recipient can engage with if they choose to. Cardlyx's optional-or-mandatory toggle means you can require the exchange for high-volume, low-familiarity situations (trade shows, open houses) where an optional prompt tends to get skipped.
Where Wave genuinely has the edge
To be fair — Wave's SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance status is a real advantage for regulated industries (insurance, finance, healthcare) where a compliance report can be a deciding factor in vendor selection. If that's a hard requirement for your organization today, Wave has documentation to back it up that Cardlyx doesn't currently offer.
The bottom line
If SOC 2 compliance documentation is a must-have for your industry, or you specifically want the most generous free-tier analytics available, Wave Connect is a strong, credible choice. If you want lead capture built into the core sharing experience — not just card analytics — with lower individual pricing, Cardlyx is built around that gap specifically.
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